Man City draw leaves Leicester level with Arsenal on top

Leicester City 0-0 Manchester City

Shared spoils in King Power clash

Leicester City go behind Arsenal at the top of the Premier League on goal difference, with the high-fliers held to a goalless draw by Manchester City on home soil.

Man City set up to give the Foxes a dose of their own direct football medicine, with Raheem Sterling sought in-behind the home defence on numerous occasions, but with no breakthrough.

First, the England forward pulled back to Kevin De Bruyne, who forced a parrying save from Kasper Schmeichel, but then Sterling himself drew a more testing stop from Leicester’s number one on the slide.

Right back Bacary Sagna often proved the original source of these back-to-front attacks from the visiting Sky Blues, while Schmeichel tipped over again from Sterling on half an hour.

Ranieri makes a tactical tweak

The Foxes, meanwhile, found leading marksman Jamie Vardy left an isolated figure by a change of shape with no strike partner alongside him, though he lashed over moments after a Christian Fuchs cross got over to Marc Albrighon. All he could find was the side-netting from an oblique angle, however.

Sergio Aguero, back leading the Man City attack, saw almost every attempt he had on goal blocked by a backs-to-the-wall home defence. Yaya Toure sought to follow up the latest of four efforts from the Argentine early in the second-half, but also found no way through.

N’Golo Kante tried his luck from range when a clever Vardy run occupied two defenders, and the dipping strike fell just wide from Leicester’s unsung midfield hero.

Leicester lifted in second-half

Foxes boss Claudio Ranieri may have shed his ‘Tinkerman’ tabloid nickname, but had switched tactics for this fixture with a lone frontman in Vardy, yet gave him company in the form of Leonardo Ulloa.

Manuel Pellegrini also looked to his bench in search of a winner with Wilfried Bony on for Aguero, but the Ivory Coast striker blasted high, wide and handsome when off-balance.

Danny Drinkwater, who had returned to the Leicester lineup, slipped in Vardy and he fired straight at Joe Hart from a narrowing angle. Man City and England’s number one found Fuchs’ strike more challenging when the quiet Riyad Mahrez tapped a free-kick to the Austria wing back.

Title race continues to enthrall

Honours ending even does little to clarify anything about where the Premier League crown is going, as it remains a three-horse race between Leicester, Man City and the Gunners.